Race

The various races of Elanith are vast. The common races include humans, elves, gnomes, kobolds, giantmen, dwarves, the erithian, the aelotoi, the krolvin, and more.

Playable Races

There are thirteen playable races in GemStone IV, including some of the above and some combinations thereof, such as half-krolvin and half-elves.

Aelotoi

A species similar to humans, but with thin membranous wings similar to insect wings. They were modified by the kiramon while being enslaved to them for thousands of years.

Dwarf

Dwarves are a hardy race, short, strong, and stout. They're quite fond of mining, forging, and ale.

Elf

Elves are a graceful, beautiful, and haughty. They've little body hair, generally incapable of growing facial hair (though, there are a few individuals in Elanthia who are quite elven and manage to sport a full beard). Elves generally lack discipline due to their long lifespan.

Elf, Dark

The Faendryl and the Dhe'nar earned their dark skin due to the time they spent near the mana foci in Rhoska-Tor. The Faendryl are not received well by the unmodified elves due to crimes committed several millennia in the past, such as in the Battle at Maelshyve during the Undead War and the destruction of Ta'Ashrim. The Dhe'nar, being similar in appearance to the Faendryl, seem to suffer from the same prejudices.

Elf, Half

Being mixed with both human and elven blood, half-elves are not well received in Elanthia due to the dislike of humans by elves and elves by humans.

Elf, Sylvan

While the majority of elves left the forest to found the Elven Empire, some remained behind and these became the sylvankind. They favor the forests above anything else, many of them spending their entire lives there.

Erithian

They recently arrived on Elanthia from a continent across the sea. They are a graceful race, using finely crafted weapons such as the katana and sai.

Gnome, Burghal

Burghal gnomes are fond of tinkering, mechanical engineering, and scavenging. They often live in, near, or underneath cities.

Gnome, Forest

Forest gnomes are hunters and gatherers, skilled at scavenging much like their burghal gnome cousins. Unlike their cousins, they prefer living in the wilderness.

Giantmen

Giantmen are huge, strong, and hardy. They are very similar to humans in appearance, except bigger. They're a tribal race, though there is evidence that there once was a great giantman empire near the modern cities of Vornavis and Solhaven.

Halfling

Along with the gnomes, halflings are among the smallest races of Elanthia. They enjoy the simple pleasures in life, usually resulting in a rotund belly. Halflings are well known for their hairy feet, which they are quite proud of.

Krolvin, Half

Krolvin are blue-skinned ape-like creatures, and are known to be raiders, often engaging in piracy. Half-krolvins are often the result of their raids, though a large number of them came from a breeding program on the Isle of Glaoveln. Half-krolvin often share either human or giantman blood, as other races either die before giving birth to a half-krolvin child (such as elves and halflings) or are incapable of conceiving from a krolvin (the dwarves).

Race Heights

This table contains the officially designated heights for all races.

RACE HEIGHTS

RACE	NORMAL HEIGHT RANGE	MAXIMUM
Giantman	6' to 6.5'	7'
Erithian	5.5' to 6.5'	7'
Sylvankind/Elves/Dark Elves	5.5' to 6'	6.5'
Humans/Half-Elves/Aelotoi	5' to 6'	6.5'
Half-Krolvin	5' to 5.5'	6'
Dwarf	4' to 4.5'	4.75'
Forest Gnome	3.5' to 4'	4.25'
Halfling/Burghal Gnome	3' to 3.25'	3.5'

Race Body Weights

There are three factors that determine body weight: base race weight, race weight factor (see table below) and the statistics (Strength + Constitution). Note that the strength and constitution stats are weighted equally. Base weight is the character's weight with (theoretically) zero (STR + CON) stats. As the STR and CON stats increase so does body weight.

RACE WEIGHTS

RACE	WEIGHT FACTOR	BASE WEIGHT	MAXIMUM WEIGHT
Burghal Gnome	0.40	40	120
Halfling	0.45	45	135
Forest Gnome	0.45	50	140
Aelotoi	0.65	70	200
Elf	0.70	70	210
Erithian	0.70	75	215
Sylvan	0.70	75	215
Dark Elf	0.75	80	230
Dwarf	0.75	80	230
Half-Elf	0.80	85	245
Human	0.90	90	270
Half-Krolvin	1.00	100	300
Giantman	1.20	120	360

Body Weight Formula

(Base Weight) + ((STR stat + CON stat) * Weight Factor) = Body Weight

Example Calculation

Your character, a human, has 70 strength and 60 constitution stats.

Human base weight: 90
Human weight factor: .90

(90) + (130 * .90) = 207 lbs total body weight

Body Weight and Encumbrance

The amount of weight that a character can carry is primarily a function of body weight and the strength stat. Each character can carry a certain amount before becoming encumbered. That amount is:

[trunc to .XX((STR Stat - 20)/200) * body weight] + (body weight/200).

Our human, with a body weight of 207 and a strength stat of 70, has an unencumbered carrying capacity of:

((70 - 20)/200)* 207)) + 207/200
(.25 * 207) + 1.03 = 52.78 lbs of unencumbered carrying capacity.

Once you become encumbered each 1% of encumbrance is simply 1% of body weight. In the example above with 207 lbs. body weight each 1% encumbrance = 2.07 lbs

See Also

• Town racial bias (saved post)
• New Races - Maneuver Bonus (saved post)
• Racial modifiers (saved post)
• A Comprehensive Guide to Divination in Elanthia (saved post)

External Links

• Races, on Play.net